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New Autism Vaccine May Bring Relief for GI Symptoms

by Joanne Van Zuidam on April 26, 2013

Joanne Van Zuidam

About the Author

Joanne Van Zuidam writes about all things parenting — from getting your pre-baby body back to getting the kids back to school. She strives to practice what she preaches with her own daughter. Her work has appeared in <em>Better Homes and Gardens</em>, <em>ShopSmart</em>, <em>First for Women</em>, and <em>Family Circle</em>.

About the Blog

WhatToExpect.com supports Word of Mom as a place to share stories and highlight the many perspectives and experiences of pregnancy and parenting. However, the opinions expressed in this section are those of individual writers and do not reflect the views of Heidi Murkoff of the What to Expect brand.

The vaccine fights Clostridium bolteae (C.bolteae), which appears in higher numbers in the GI tracts of children with autism than in those of kids without the disorder. The gut bug is associated with GI symptoms such as constipation and diarrhea.

As reported in ScienceDaily, more than 90 percent of children with autism spectrum disorders suffer from chronic, severe gastrointestinal symptoms. Of those, about 75 percent suffer from diarrhea.

"Little is known about the factors that predispose autistic children to C. bolteae," said co-study author Mario Monteiro. Although most infections are handled by some antibiotics, he said, a vaccine would improve current treatment.

"This is the first vaccine designed to control constipation and diarrhea caused by C. bolteae and perhaps control autism-related symptoms associated with this microbe," he added.

Some researchers believe toxins and/or metabolites produced by gut bacteria, including C. bolteae, may be associated with symptoms and severity of autism, especially regressive autism.

This vaccine targets the polysaccharides, or carbohydrates, on the surface of the bug. In doing so, the researchers reported increased levels of C. bolteae-specific antibodies in rabbits. They said they could use the vaccine-induced antibodies to detect the bug in a clinical setting.

Since this was an animal study, we won't see this for a number of years. Monteiro said it could take more than ten years to work through preclinical and human trials, and it may take even longer before a drug is ready for market.

"But this is a significant first step in the design of a multivalent vaccine against several autism-related gut bacteria," he said.